March 01, 2013 06:16 PM CSTMarch 01, 2013 06:19 PM CSTCowlishaw on Cowboys restructuring contracts: It's good, but there is still a lot of work to do

Cowlishaw on Cowboys restructuring contracts: It's good, but there is still a lot of work to do

1/6

Gus Ruelas/AP

FIVE JERRY JONESISMS FROM THE NFL COMBINE: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has never been one to shy away from a microphone, and this week's NFL Combine was no exception. Reporters picked Jones' brain on a number of topics over the weekend, and here's a sampling of some of the most interesting things Jones said.

Columnist Tim Cowlishaw spoke on video on Friday about the Cowboys restructuring a number of contracts. Here is what he had to say. You can also watch the full video here.

“When the month of February started this team was $21 million over the cap, the projected cap of $123 million, next season. Now, they didn’t have to cut any players this week. They did some fancy footwork with Jerry’s checkbook, restructured the contracts of some of their most prominent players. Miles Austin, Jason Witten, DeMarcus Ware, Brandon Carr, center Ryan Cook, all changed salary from this year into bonus money in order to lower the cap to get under the figure so they could go ahead and do business. That doesn’t mean they’re going to have a lot of money to sign extra players with. They still need to extend Tony Romo’s contract that will again lower his salary cap figure from a projected 16.8 million this year, and they’ve got to decide what to do about Anthony Spencer, one of their better players last season for sure. They either have to find a way to franchise him — which is about $10 million — or do a deal with him or look for answers elsewhere in their new 4-3 defense.

“While this was all pretty good news, getting under the cap, it raises a couple of questions about this team. The biggest is when you take all this money, you turn it into bonus money, it’s great for now, the players still get paid and it lowers the Cowboys cap figure, but it raises the cap for 2014 and ‘15 and all those other years that these players are under contract for. I think the biggest problem for Cowboys fans is this is a team that’s been 6-10, 8-8, 8-8 the last three years. Why do they have all these salary problems with a roster that isn’t getting to the playoffs, isn’t even producing a winning record since they beat the Eagles in the playoffs a few years a go? So, good week for the Cowboys getting the salary cap a little under control, still a lot of questions, a lot of work to do moving forward.”

To post a comment, log into your chosen social network and then add your comment below. Your comments are subject to our Terms of Service and the privacy policy and terms of service of your social network. If you do not want to comment with a social network, please consider writing a letter to the editor.